THE UNDONE WORSHIPPER

From Matt Redman's "Unquenchable Worshipper"...from Chapter 2...being undone before the Lord is one of my favorite ways to visualize our response to His glory and our response to His calling...When we are "undone" how do we respond, how do we live? Have a great Friday...Ron


CHAPTER 2
´I saw the Lord, sitting on a throne´

´. . . the train of His robe filling the temple . . .´

´Seraphim stood above Him . . . ´

´And one called out to another and said ´Holy, Holy, Holy . . .´

´And the foundation of the thresholds trembled at the voice . . .

The intensity of the opening verses in Isaiah 6 build one upon the other, a steady drumbeat marking the march towards the moment of realization. Whenever that moment took place, it becomes clear that, in verse 5, reality came crashing down around the prophet -

´Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.´

The Oxford English Dictionary defines ´undone´ as ´destruction.´ If Isaiah 6 is about a picture of God´s grandeur and glory, then it´s also, at the same time, about the ´destruction´ of the prophet himself. The two seem to go hand in hand. When faced with one of the most glorious visions of unhindered, true worship of God, he declares his own ruination and destruction. He didn´t need a lesson in theology to understand that he could not survive standing on his own merit in the presence of eternal perfection. In Isaiah´s mind, meeting God in such a way marked the beginning of the end.

There are moments in worship when we must, like Isaiah, declare that we are undone, that we are ruined, that the ways in which we still cling to what Paul called the ´old self´, must be destroyed if we are to be in the presence of our King.

Chapter 6 could have ended with the doomed finality of Isaiah´s own words. But God, in his unknowable, unfathomable love and mercy grants us a fresh, new start -

´Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand . . . He touched my mouth with it and said, ´Behold, this has touched your lips and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.´

Undone worshippers do the hard work of turning the light of God´s glory into the corners and crevices of their souls, to find any way that may be unpleasing to the Lord. When called, they humbly return to the realization that they cannot stand on their own, that they must be cleansed, regardless of the cost. They realize that, only once they have been undone by God´s holiness and glory and restored by His love, can they begin again and fully respond to His call -

´Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?´

Scripture Review

Scripture tells an amazing story of a God searching, seeking, and hungering after a relationship with humanity. In that story there are moments of revelation in which the Lord bursts through time and space and meets with men and women, young and old, rich and poor to point them towards Him. Some are healed, some are comforted, and some are undone. Below are a few passages to read, consider or pray through as an individual or as a group. They are stories of undone worshippers throughout scripture. They are individuals who have found themselves broken in the presence of the Lord and yet, in that brokenness, found grace, hope, empowerment and promise for the future.

Saul/Paul: Acts 9 verses 1-17
King David: Psalm 51
Thief on the Cross: Luke 23 verses 35-43
Peter: Luke 5 verses 1-11
John: Revelation 1 verses 9-20

Questions for Study

1. Psalm 139 verses 23-24 is a passage that strikes at the heart of what it means to be an undone worshipper. David decides that he wants so much of God that he asks God to search his heart for any hint of sin. Undone worshippers invite God to point out any sin in their lives because they knew that this was the only pathway to true and unhindered worship. Consider whether or not you need to move from being a reactive to a proactive undone worshipper. Is it time to move on from waiting for God to point out ways you need to change and begin to tenaciously pursue holiness?

2. Essential to understanding the idea of being an undone worshipper is the idea of God as both a tough and tender Father. Many of us have real trouble balancing those notions of God in our hearts and minds. We may run from being an undone worshipper because we are afraid of seeing God as some angry and wrathful Father who wants to punish and inflict pain upon us. Others of us may live and dwell in our past, not forgiving ourselves though God has forgiven us, punishing ourselves and never allowing ourselves to move on in freedom, love and acceptance. How do you see your Heavenly Father? Does your view of God hinder your ability to fully become the undone worshipper He wants you to be? Have the events and relationships in your family or your life skewed your idea of the God described to us in Scripture